


Stress Relief

by Amedia



Series: Nocturne [4]
Category: Barney Miller (TV)
Genre: Canon Character of Color, Episode Tag, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-14
Updated: 2010-11-14
Packaged: 2017-10-13 05:05:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/133277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amedia/pseuds/Amedia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A missing scene from the episode "Stress Analyzer." Harris expresses his relief that Dietrich isn't dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stress Relief

**Author's Note:**

> Published in DIVERSE DOINGS 9, May 2002.

_Based on the aired episode "Stress Analyzer":  
Dietrich had agreed to wear a stress-analysis device as a favor to the police department, which was trying to assess the range of stresses experienced by its members in a typical day. The device transmitted a continuous readout of his vital signs to a receiver back at the precinct. Answering a domestic disturbance call, he and Levitt were astonished to find a woman with a fire hose waiting for them. The situation turned out to be more comical than dangerous, but he was knocked down and thoroughly soaked by the high-powered stream of water. On his return to the station, he'd changed quickly into sweats and walked into the squadroom, unaware that his coworkers had thought he was dead when the stress analyzer shorted out and stopped transmitting._

* * *

  


Shortly after his return, Dietrich was downstairs alone in the locker room, wringing out his wet clothes and stuffing them into plastic bags to take home, when he was blindsided. Something knocked into him, and he found himself with his back against the nearest locker, pinned by Harris' hands on his shoulders.

"Hey!" Dietrich said.

Harris kissed him on the mouth, hard and demanding, as if he were trying to reassure himself that Dietrich was real. After a few minutes Harris pulled back and they both gasped for air. Harris leaned forward, resting his forehead against Dietrich's. "I thought I'd lost you," he whispered raggedly, and Dietrich realized that Harris was shaking.

Rattled by Harris' intensity, Dietrich felt that he should say something intelligent and cynical, perhaps a quote from some arcane philosopher or poet. "I'm here," he whispered back. Wrapping his arms around Harris, Dietrich pressed every inch of his body against Harris', making his presence tangible and reassuring.

Harris slipped a hand between them and unzipped Dietrich's sweatshirt. "I want to feel your heartbeat," he explained softly, sounding embarrassed, placing the palm of his hand against Dietrich's chest.

"S'all right, go ahead," Dietrich said, touched by Harris' rare show of emotion.

"What's this?" Harris asked, running his fingers across the place where the transmitter had been. He pulled back again and spread the unzipped sweatshirt open. "You didn't tell me you were hurt."

"I'm not," Dietrich said, embarrassed. "The tape stuck when I pulled the transmitter off. I just got a little skinned."

"A little?" Harris asked. Dietrich looked down to where Harris was pointing. There were angry reddish stripes running across his chest where the tape had been.

"Oh," Dietrich said. "It didn't hurt that much at the time."

Harris bent down and began kissing tenderly along the tape marks. "Ron," Dietrich said breathlessly, "I don't think you should do that.".

Harris stopped immediately. "Is it painful?"

"Far from it," Dietrich replied. "It's incredibly arousing." Harris smiled and started up again. The rest of the afternoon was a blur – a very pleasant blur.


End file.
